Thoughts on
Devotions – LD23
Q. 59 What good
does it do you, however, to believe all this? Q. 60 How are you right
with God? Q. 61 Why do you
say that by faith alone you are right with God?
DeYoung,
in The Good News We
Almost Forgot, notes
that without using the word, this Lord's Day addresses the key
Reformation doctrine of Justification. He also states that this
doctrine remains extremely important as it must be repeatedly
affirmed today as it was in the 16th
century. Important aspects include 1) the idea that while at the same
time that we stand justified, we remain sinners; 2) that our right
standing with God is based on an alien
righteousness (i.e., justified based on a righteousness that is not
our own); 3) we have the righteousness of Christ by imputation
– we are not made holy or infused with goodness, but Christ's
righteousness is credited to us as a gift; 4) we are justified by
faith alone – “there is nothing we contribute to our salvation
but our sin, no merit we bring but Christ's, and nothing necessary
for justification except for faith alone.” 5) Faith is instrumental
– that is God does not grant his gift to us because he finds our
faith acceptable or meritorious. Faith is only the instrument by
which we embrace Christ, have communion with him and share in his
benefits. It is the object of our faith that matters – our faith
will ebb and flow, but Christ remains faithful and trustworthy.
Monday:
What
good does believing “all this” do? Believing the Gospel message
is not just believing factual information. Trusting Christ unites us
with him – we are in
Christ – united to him which makes us right with God and heirs of
eternal life.
Romans
1:16-17
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is Godʼs power for
salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the
Greek. For the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from
faith to faith, just as it is written, “The righteous by faith will
live.”
Tuesday:
Paul,
like Martin Luther before he understood the Gospel, was intent upon
trying to please God by keeping the law. They both came to realize
that our attempts to futile, and that the only way to be righteous in
God's eyes is by receiving the righteousness that God provides. We
are right with God only when we trust in Jesus alone to meet God's
demands of us.
Philippians
3:4b-9
If someone thinks he has good reasons to put confidence in human
credentials, I have more: I was circumcised on the eighth day,
from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of
Hebrews. I lived according to the law as a Pharisee. In my zeal
for God I persecuted the church. According to the righteousness
stipulated in the law I was blameless. But these assets I have
come to regard as liabilities because of Christ. More than that, I
now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater
value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the
loss of all things - indeed, I regard them as dung! - that I may gain
Christ, and be found in him, not because I have my own
righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the
righteousness that comes by way of Christʼs faithfulness - a
righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christʼs
faithfulness.
Wednesday:
The
Bible calls Satan “the accuser”, but our own consciences also
accuse us that we have never kept God's laws – and that we continue
to still are inclined and attracted by sin even though we know of
God's grace and love for us.
Romans
3:19-20
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are
under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole
world may be held accountable to God. For no one is declared
righteous before him by the works of the law, for through the law
comes the knowledge of sin.
Romans
7:21-24
So, I find the law that when I want to do good, evil is present with
me. For I delight in the law of God in my inner being. But I
see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my
mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members.
Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
Thursday:
Even
though my conscience accuses me and I am inclined toward evil, God
nevertheless sees me as perfectly obedient – because God sent Jesus
to live a perfect life in my place. He now credits the perfect
holiness and righteousness of Christ to me. It is as if I have been
perfectly obedient and had never sinned!
Romans
4:3, 22-25
For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was
credited to him as righteousness.” So indeed it was credited to
Abraham as righteousness. But the statement it was credited to him
was not written only for Abrahamʼs sake, but also for our sake,
to whom it will be credited, those who believe in the one who raised
Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was given over because of our
transgressions and was raised for the sake of our justification.
Friday:
Why
would God do such a thing for me when I have spent my entire life
sinning against him and in rebellion? It is God's gift. God does this
for me and all those he has called to himself out of sheer grace.
Grace is who God is – God imputes Christ's righteousness and
blessings on us without any merit of my own. This changes everything
– our relationship to God and every aspect of our lives.
John
3:16-19
For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only
Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have
eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to
condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him.
The one who believes in him is not condemned. The one who does not
believe has been condemned already, because he has not believed in
the name of the one and only Son of God. Now this is the basis for
judging: that the light has come into the world and people loved the
darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil.
John
20:30-31
Now Jesus performed many other miraculous signs in the presence of
the disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are
recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Saturday:
It
is through faith alone that we are righteous before God. Alone
is the key word – we need to understand that we had nothing to do
with this wonderful turn of events. It is not that our faith is so
valuable (even faith is a gift from God) – it is the one in whom we
place our faith – Jesus Christ. “God will only credit his
righteousness to the one who values Jesus so much that he won't try
to add anything to what Jesus has done.”
I
Corinthians 1:30-31
He is the reason you have a relationship with Christ Jesus, who
became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who
boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Galatians
2:16
yet we know that no one is justified by the works of the law but by
the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in
Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by the faithfulness of
Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the
law no one will be justified.
Reading
between the lines...
Monday:
Reading Between the Lines 212 - Consider the Lilies
“Consider
the lilies” seems to reference a pastoral, contemplative scene, but
Jesus uses this phrase as a challenge to we “of little faith”.
Birds and flowers are seen as fulfilling their purpose in God's
Kingdom, while humans live in faithless and paralyzing anxiety. We
need to take lessons from sparrows and grass. The lilies and birds
“try to be” like Jesus and point to trust in God. Jesus is the
ultimate lesson in carefree living. Jesus doesn't merely refrain from
worry, but provides for us. He is a provider we can trust – we are
fed by his body and blood, we are clothed with his righteousness, and
we are surrounded by a world that proclaims his trustworthiness. Even
sparrows know this, and grass can be trusted. Consider the birds,
consider the lilies, consider the cross... don't worry, you have a
provider who will never let you down.
Luke
12:27-31
Consider how the flowers grow; they do not work or spin. Yet I tell
you, not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these!
And if this is how God clothes the wild grass, which is here today
and tomorrow is tossed into the fire to heat the oven, how much more
will he clothe you, you people of little faith! So do not be
overly concerned about what you will eat and what you will drink, and
do not worry about such things. For all the nations of the world
pursue these things, and your Father knows that you need them.
Instead, pursue his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as
well.
Tuesday:
Reading
Between the Lines 213
- Seek First the Kingdom of God
We
have only one heart and our hearts seek what we treasure – we can
treasure God or the things of this world, Mammon. Earthly treasure is
the way of worry; abandoning ourselves to trust in God is the way of
peace. We can't survive on prayer and good intentions, can we. The
world is divided between those who seek after earthly things and
those who trust in their heavenly Father. If you spend you life
chasing after life's “essentials” even they will escape your
grasp, but if focus on the one essential, Jesus Christ, not only will
you get Him, but all the other provision for needs will be thrown in.
Seek first the Kingdom – i.e., seek first the King. Put first
things first and second things are thrown in! Put second things first
and you lose both. What is first in your heart?
Matthew
6:31-34
So then, donʼt worry saying, ʻWhat will we eat?ʼ or ʻWhat will we
drink?ʼ or ʻWhat will we wear?ʼ For the unconverted pursue
these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
But above all pursue his kingdom and righteousness, and all these
things will be given to you as well. So then, do not worry about
tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough
trouble of its own.
Wednesday:
Reading
Between the Lines 214 - Judge Not, Lest You Be Judged
We
love to judge others and self-justify ourselves. We are guilty, but
want to acquit ourselves and then turn on our fellow accused as
though we are the prosecutors. If we play the judge, maybe everyone
else will forget that we are the accused - just as Adam tried to
cover himself after he sinned. The Lord came to came to expose him
and provide acceptable coverings, but rejects the way of repentance
and receiving and goes on the attack. We follow the same pattern.
“The man blamed the woman, the woman blamed the snake and the snake
didn't have a leg to stand on...” Who could stand if the same
judgments we apply to others were applied to ourselves? Christ has
taken the blame and has paid the penalty, we do not have to find
someone else to blame. He does not say do not be discerning or that
there are no moral standards. This does not speak against judging,
but against judgmentalism.
Matthew
7:1-2
“Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For by the standard
you judge you will be judged, and the measure you use will be the
measure you receive.
Romans
8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus.
Luke
6:36
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Thursday:
Reading
Between the Lines 215 - The Mote and the Beam
When
I do wrong it is out of character, when you do it it is a pattern.
This hypocrisy thrives among those who try to be religious. Jesus
points out giving, praying and fasting as 3 problem areas where the
religious show their superiority. What's the way out? 1) Laugh at
ourselves; 2) get proportion (I am 99% the problem, you – 1%); 3)
considering our own sin and failure first before focusing on someone
else; 4) Look at Jesus – he is the only one who sees clearly, and
yet his response was not blaming, but taking our sins onto himself -
“shame on me, shame on me...” It is astonishing and shatters our
pride. He sees our situation and bestows grace on us. I have the
plank, you have the speck and we both have Jesus – and he as enough
grace to heal us both.
Matthew
7:3-5
Why do you see the speck in your brotherʼs eye, but fail to see the
beam of wood in your own? Or how can you say to your brother, ʻLet
me remove the speck from your eye,ʼ while there is a beam in your
own? You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and
then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brotherʼs
eye.
Friday:
Reading
Between the Lines 216
- Pearls Before Swine
Some
people prove themselves unworthy of the Gospel we bring to them. This
is not friends and family – this is mission situations. These
verses tell us to move on. This tells us to not wallow in
persecution. Being persecuted is not the point, spreading the gospel
is. Move on. Pray for wisdom, to know when and where to offer the
gospel. Who are the pigs? The religious and the hypocrites – and in
the sermon those who will tear you apart. If you reject Jesus you
cannot claim to be clean.
Matthew
7:6
Do not give what is holy to dogs or throw your pearls before pigs;
otherwise they will trample them under their feet and turn around and
tear you to pieces.
Saturday:
Reading
Between the Lines 217
- Seek and You Shall Find
Westerners have a problem with prayer – we consider nature to be a closed system
controlled by scientific laws; we see ourselves as self-sufficient
masters of our own fate; and our concept of God is affected by
philosophical ideas. God is far off pulling the levers – why ask in
prayer? Jesus portrays prayer as a continual, confident petitioning. He
portrays God as eagerly responding to prayer. A vibrant and dynamic
give-and-take between the pray-er and God. Ask, seek and knock –
Jesus puts together the idea of desperate prayer and a bountiful God.
We can be desperate without feeling that we have to twist God's arm –
he is our Father. Before there was a universe there was interaction
and communication in the Trinity and we are invited in – we are
participating in the give-and-take of God. The universe is not a
clockwork world; I am not a self-sufficient individual; God is not a
distant administrator. We come in prayer with utter need and total
confidence.
Matthew
7:7-11
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and
the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives,
and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will
be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if his son asks for
bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give
him a snake? If you then, although you are evil, know how to give
good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven
give good gifts to those who ask him!
Sunday:
Reading
Between the Lines 218 - Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto
You
What
is the Old Testament about? Jesus refers to the “law and the
prophets” in the Sermon on the Mount”. Jesus is the “point”
of the OT – he comes to fulfill the law. The law and the law and
the prophets are summed up by the one great command and the one who
fulfills the command. The Bible gives us a description of the “good
life” and the one who lives the good life. It gives us the command
and the Savior who fulfills that command. We are to be perfect as our
heavenly Father is perfect; we should be generous, free of greed and
worry; we should be totally without judgment, hypocrisy, always
prayerful – we fail at all of these things. So in everything do
unto others as you would have do unto us – we are to take the
initiative and act first, giving and caring – where our tendency is
to respond in kind. Jesus is the only one who has responded in this
way – doing good to others when evil was done to him. Even though
we have done him evil, he has done us good. Thank God for the Gospel,
for Jesus who fulfills the law and the prophets – and he does it
for us.
Matthew
5:17
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them.
Matthew
7:12
In everything, treat others as you would want them to treat you, for
this fulfills the law and the prophets.
Matthew
5:6
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for
they will be satisfied.
